Wow! Santa Cruz Guitars and McKinley Leather Still Make Their Products in the USA!

As promised, this post will introduce two American firms that still make their products in the USA.  I'm a proud and very staisified customer of both, so I figured, they should get the honor of being the first two companies profiled. 

Santa Cruz Guitar Company

The first company that I will profile is the Santa Cruz Guitar Company.  Santa Cruz makes some of the most amazing acoustic guitars in the world.  All of their guitars are handmade in Santa Cruz, California.  Founded, and still run, by Richard Hoover, Santa Cruz Guitars are played by some of the most respected and influential musicians in the world - Eric Clapton, Tony Rice, Gary Moore, Robert Plant, Doc Watson, Glen Frey, Dickey Betts, Otis Taylor and Jimmy Buffet - just to name a few.  Richard and his master luthiers hand craft every guitar. 


To quote Richard Hoover, "It's not easy to tell some of the world's best musicians that we simply don't supply anyone complimentary instruments to leverage an endorsement (ed. this is a very common practice in the music business).  Surprisingly the response has been "that's cool, here are my specs, call when it's ready".  That is the truest endorsement as to the sonic timbre and incredible playability of Santa Cruz acoustic guitars.  Below you can see a few of Santa Cruz's new 1929 models.

And below is a beautiful example of the Santa Cruz D - one of their many versions of the uber successful "Dreadnaught" acoustic guitar design.  This guitar is the workhorse of many folk, country, bluegrass and rock players due to its great balance, power, tone and dynamics.

I still find it amazing that after nearly 7 years of owning their "D"  model, that every time I play it, I'm still astounded by its sound.  How many products or instruments can keep on impressing an owner years after buying them?  Well, my Santa Cruz D is still enchanting me.....but I do hear the melody of one with Brazilian Rosewood beckoning me........like a siren to a sailor.




McKinley American Leathercrafters


The second company I will profile is McKinley American Leathercrafters, a family owned manufacturer of high quality leather products. 

I came across McKinley while looking for a new leather padfolio.  I was absolutley determined not to buy a leather portfolio unless it was made in the USA.  After doing a bunch of Googling I found McKinley.  I went through their website and was impressed with their story (family owned and their factory is in the USA) and the look of their products.  Sure enough, I located exactly what I was looking for - a leather padfolio in tan or cognac.  But I had a few questions since I couldn't hold the product in my hand or see it person and I needed it super fast, so I pick up the phone and called McKinley.  I spoke with Derrick and he was very helpful and made some good suggestions.  In short McKinley's cutomer service was great and the padfolio arrived on time.  When the padfolio arrived it surpassed my expectations.  The quality and feel of the product is excellent as was the care it was packed and presented.  I was very happy to find McKinley and that their shop is so well run.  Below is the padfolio in a variety of colors offered by McKinley.

Now some readers of this blog may not be aware of the fact that many of the "up-scale" leather goods merchants/manufacturers no longer make their products in the USA. When I emailed two of the better known companies to find out where their portfolios are made, I was informed by one that their portfolios were made in China and the other maker said they "source" from multiple countries - but not the USA.  But here's an interesting fact. Both of these companies moved the bulk, if not all, of their manufacturing offshore and yet they charge the same or more for their products than does McKinley.

Now I'm not a Nobel Prize winner in economics and I didn't go to Wharton or Harvard for an MBA but it struck me that despite manufacturing overseas these two high-end purveyors could not (or didn't care to) be competitive on pricing with a firm manufacturing the same goods in the USA.  Labor is pennies on the dollar in China, India and Pakistan compared to the USA. Moreover, any theoretical savings in manufacturing overseas does not seem to trickle back to the US consumer or, based on these two firm's stock performance, to their shareholders (both firms are publicly traded).  The questions that beg to be answered is that if outsourcing is done to stay "competitive", then why do their products cost more?  And if they are concerned about "shareholder" value, then why have both stocks underperformed the market and do not have a history of issuing increasingly robust dividends?  Hmmm...

So if you are looking for high quality leather goods such as portfolios, journals, organizers, binders, padfolios, planners, business cases, photo albums or scrapbooks - that are made in the good ole' USofA - as a nice bonus - visit McKinley's website or give them a call - I did. And I can heartily recommend them.

Reagan insider: GOP Destroyed Economy - Paul B. Farrell - MarketWatch

This is an extremely interesting read due to David Stockman's CV and his analysis of how the U.S. economy went off the tracks.  And having read Paul Farrell's column for years, he is pretty evenhanded in his view of things.  So let's go....


Please note, this site is neither pro-Republican nor anti-Democrat nor vice versa.  There is plenty of blame to lay at the feet of both parties.

But what do I know?  I went to a state university and write a blog.  So don't listen to me.  However, you may want to read the words of America's first President on the topic of parties.   Below is a section of President George Washington's Farewell Address in 1796 that warns about political parties:

"The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another."

"However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion."


Now onward to the article.

By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch 

Aug. 10, 2010, 12:45 a.m. EDT

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- "How my G.O.P. destroyed the U.S. economy." Yes, that is exactly what David Stockman, President Ronald Reagan's director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed piece, "Four Deformations of the Apocalypse."

Get it? Not "destroying." The GOP has already "destroyed" the U.S. economy, setting up an "American Apocalypse."

But why focus on Stockman's message? It's already lost in the 24/7 news cycle. Why? We need some introspection. Ask yourself: How did the great nation of America lose its moral compass and drift so far off course, to where our very survival is threatened?Yes, Stockman is equally damning of the Democrats' Keynesian policies. But what this indictment by a party insider -- someone so close to the development of the Reaganomics ideology -- says about America, helps all of us better understand how America's toxic partisan-politics "holy war" is destroying not just the economy and capitalism, but the America dream. And unless this war stops soon, both parties will succeed in their collective death wish.

We've arrived at a historic turning point as a nation that no longer needs outside enemies to destroy us, we are committing suicide. Democracy. Capitalism. The American dream. All dying. Why? Because of the economic decisions of the GOP the past 40 years, says this leading Reagan Republican.

Please listen with an open mind, no matter your party affiliation: This makes for a powerful history lesson, because it exposes how both parties are responsible for destroying the U.S. economy. Listen closely: Click here to read the entire story.